The next day - May 5 last year - he used the Merc, now with false plates, to establish credibility at a Yarm jewellers', said prosecutor Harry Hadfield.

The car was later found abandoned in North Yorkshire.

On October 15 the boy was a passenger in a £30,000 Mitsubishi Evolution which three men drove from a Darlington garage forecourt after taking the keys from an office.

Two days later, he drove a £12,000 Vauxhall Astra, with its bonnet up from Patrick's dealers in Eaglescliffe. Its keys were in the ignition as a mechanic worked on it.

He pulled up in the stolen Astra to Bramwell's jewellers in Durham on October 19 and asked to see a £30,250 diamond ring, which he stole. It has never been returned.

He admitted stealing the ring, the Mercedes and the Astra, and allowing himself to be carried in the Mitsubishi.

He also admitted receiving stolen goods, dangerous driving and other driving offences from March and April last year, when he drove a stolen Peugeot in a high-speed chase from Manchester police.

He was arrested on October 19 hiding in a caravan park with £1,960 and a sovereign ring after another police chase in the stolen Astra.

Alexia Zimbler, defending the boy, said he started to get into trouble in recent years.

She said: "It is very clear this young man has got in with some rather more serious and older criminals. Without the encouragement of those older criminals, he would not have done any of these particular offences."

The Gazette challenged the order banning his identification, given his serious, repeated and flagrant crimes and the possible deterrent to others.

But sentencing the youth to a 12-month detention and training order Judge George Moorhouse refused the request because the case would normally be dealt with in a youth court, where identities are protected.